The family and friends of Nancy Dailey breathed sighs of relief Thursday afternoon as the verdict was read in Alan Wood’s murder case.

After a bit more than two hours of deliberation, a jury found Wood guilty of all counts — first-degree murder, felony murder, larceny in a building and two counts of illegal use of a financial transaction device.

Wood faced those charges after the death of Nancy Dailey, 80, who was beaten and had her throat slashed and stabbed at her Royal Oak home on Nov. 20, 2011.

“It was an answer to prayer,” said Nan Drinkard, Dailey’s niece.

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“God is good, no matter what happens in our lives. We’re so thankful that God, he sees us through, and we’re just thankful that the truth came out. The jurors made a good decision.”

James Reynolds, Dailey’s nephew who lives in Savannah, Ga., said Dailey was “like a second mother.”

“Although she had no kids, we were basically her kids, so we did all the fun things together, like go to the zoo. (I have) nothing but happy memories.”

Drinkard, who was named after Dailey, said her aunt loved jazz music, dancing and life.

“Short of having her back here with us today, we know she’s in a good place with my mom, and we’re just so glad that justice prevailed.”

Both Drinkard and Reynolds credited the Royal Oak Police Department and the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office for their work in the case.

“It was a horrific crime,” Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton said. “We are happy to see that the jury reached the correct verdict in this case and is holding him accountable, and he will spend the rest of his life in prison, where he should be.”

Walton said Assistant Prosecutors Tricia Dare and Rob VanWert, who tried the case, did an “outstanding job.”

“They are two highly dedicated professionals,” Walton said.

Defense attorney Elias Escobedo spoke with the jury following the verdict.

“They gave a great deal of weight to Tonia Watson’s testimony and the fact that ... (Wood’s) scarf was at the scene was another component.”

Watson, Wood’s former co-defendant, reached a plea deal last month and testified against Wood earlier this week. The scarf, which belonged to Wood, was used to tie Dailey’s arms behind her back during the assault.

“I have to respect (the jury’s) decision,” Escobedo said.

“They worked hard. They had a lot to think about. They did say they don’t want to hear about Y-STR (DNA) anymore.”

Jurors heard plenty of testimony about Y-STR DNA, which tests along paternal lines only. Wood could not be excluded as a donor of DNA found on Dailey’s fingernails and on the scarf.

Escobedo, who called an expert to the stand Thursday morning in an attempt to discredit Y-STR DNA testing, expects Wood to file an appeal and said there are “four or five issues he might want to consider” in filing it.

Escobedo will not represent Wood in a potential appeal.

Earlier Thursday, both the defense and the prosecution agreed that it was evident who killed Nancy Dailey.

As one would expect, their opinions on who did it differed.

“Clearly, the defendant caused the death of Nancy Dailey,” Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Tricia Dare said.

Dare quoted testimony from Watson.

“I’ve never cut an old lady before,” Watson said Wood told her. “I had to cut her twice and then stab her in the neck.”

“Why would he have to do that if his intent was not to kill her?” Dare asked.

Dare said Wood thought about the crime before perpetrating it that day. He also had time to think about what he was doing “every time he pulls his fist back,” as well as when he walked back toward Dailey to slash her neck and stab her.

Both sides spent considerable time speaking about Watson.

“I’ve got to tell you, the poor lady’s pathetic, and it’s sad and it’s tragic the poor life she’s lived,” Escobedo said of Watson.

“Alan Wood was tired of taking care of Tonia Watson. Alan Wood was tired of providing for her $200 a day drug habit. She knew her time with Alan Wood was coming to an end and she was desperate. Who was going to buy heroin for her? Who was going to buy the crack cocaine?”

Escobedo believes Watson went to Dailey’s home by herself on Nov. 20, 2011, to rob and kill Dailey.

“After Tonia Watson killed Nancy Dailey she took the purse, she took all the items from her home and she goes ... to the love of her life (Wood), and says ‘Hey look, I’ve got these credit cards. I’ve got this money. Let’s go get some dope.’

“I can just imagine what Alan’s thinking. ‘What do you mean? What’s going on?’

Escobedo believes Watson told Wood that she went to Dailey’s house, prompting Wood to check it out.

“He goes to see what’s going on and there are police all over the place. ‘Let’s get out of Dodge, Tonia. I don’t know what you did, but let’s get out of here.’”

Dare spoke of Watson in her closing argument.

“The defense wants you to believe, I’m sure, that Tonia is a liar,” she said.

“But it’s up to you to determine her credibility. The evidence is consistent, and it matches what she said, and it’s not just luck.

“Tonia Watson is a hard-core drug addict. She’s been a thief pretty much her entire life. But she did not kill Nancy Dailey.”

Dare also spoke about letters Wood wrote to Watson in jail.

One letter read, in part, “Don’t answer one thing without a lawyer or sign anything.”

Another read “You’ve got to talk to your lawyers and tell them you were told what to say to Detective (Perry) Edgell. You were sick and hurtened so you lied. All I know is your evidence is all the evidence. They have no proof. So you gotta get your statement back. All they doin’ is puttin’ us against each other.”

Escobedo also spoke of graphic photos of Dailey’s injuries that were shown during the trial.

“(The prosecution) wants you to become so inflamed and so angry at what happened to this lady that somebody’s got to pay. What’s a way to do that? Show you all these gory photographs.”

Dare said her reasoning for showing the photographs was sound.

“I didn’t show you those pictures because I wanted you to convict someone of these crimes,” she said.

“I showed you those pictures because I want you to convict the person who perpetrated these crimes, the defendant.”

Wood will be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 15 in front of Oakland County Circuit Judge Colleen O’Brien. He will receive a mandatory life sentence.